The Queue: Diablo on Nintendo Switch, Legion Archaeology, and Silthus

Welcome to the Queue folks, and let me extend my appreciation to Liz for covering Monday’s edition for me… may her generosity lead to a gnome appearance in a cinematic.

LOGAN ASKED:

So… what’s all this about Diablo on the Nintendo Switch?

Everything is stemming from Blizzard being its normal incredibly cryptic and annoying self; we just wrote about this earlier today actually. Blizzard really likes to be crytpic about what it’s working on — rarely offering insights into details of its engagements until things are incredibly polished and almost good to go. They are not like other studios who say “hey we’re making a game you’ll enjoy in two or so years.” Blizzard usually announces something and then it’s ready six months to a year later.

I cannot forsee a future where Blizzard doens’t release Diablo III on the Nintendo Switch. The thing is just built for it, and I’ll be downloading it the moment it goes live. I’ve been playing Zelda, Skyrim, and Mario on my Switch; and all are just excellent games. The Switch is what the PSP wanted to be. Fast, versatile, and with a growing selection of games.

Blizzard is going to jump on this bus soon. I have no inside information, I just can’t imagine them not doing so.

SHADEWIN ASKED:

Q4tQ: Legion Archaeology’s “This Side Up” quests- can you get a new one EVERY week, or is there some sort of rotation I should be aware of that is causing no new quest this week (with only 3 completed so far)?

First to answer your question directly: it’s every two weeks that a new quest becomes available, and the rotation of quests follows the same order that they’re listed in the achievement (at least that’s what I’ve found). That means if you miss a quest, you’re going to be waiting a bit…

Second, rant time: I don’t know how I feel about Archaeology in Legion. In some respects I really like the quest based approach, it provides a nice compliment to just digging endlessly (which in itself isn’t something I mind perse, it’s much like fishing, great to do while watching some TV).

But on the other hand it doesn’t have the same feel as the profession did since Cataclysm when it was released. This is not necessarily bad, but at the same time it feels somewhat thrown together to match the existing profession progression* system, which I think has gone over extremely well in so far as learning new recipes and leveling up. Note that I’m not talking about the final 15 points or so of a crafting profession… that is so horribly broken and awful for any non-serious crafter; the cost is insane if you’re purchasing, or the grind is too long. And then when you get to 800 … I don’t think there is a return on investment at all. Yes, there’s certain cases where if you’re playing every day or really just focusing on crafting you can get that (I have my way with 885 gear on my server), but for the average player I think it’s a disappointing accomplishment and needs to be seriously re-evaluated for the upcoming expansion.

* Alliteration unintentional

ELAINEDESHALOTT ASKED:

Do I have to complete the Silithus quests Horde-side to unlock the Horde allied races?

No, you don’t have to (at least none of the races thus far released). That being said, you’ll need to do them eventually to destroy the legendary artifacts and get whatever bonus Blizzard is putting out there.

I’m anxiously awaiting finding out what that bonus is going to be. My guess is that they’ll lift the legendary restrictions all together and allow people to equip everything. Which really would be quite …. smashing.